


stupid valentines

by kinos



Category: Pentagon (Korea Band)
Genre: College AU, M/M, Requested!, valentine’s au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 05:31:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13675245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinos/pseuds/kinos
Summary: Hongseok doesn’t understand why Valentine’s Day is such a big deal.In college… You’re broke and your heart gets broken too, so what’s the point?Valentine’s Day is stupid, but he’s getting paid good money to deliver these silly gifts to people around campus, so for the sake of eating something other than ramen for once, he figures he’ll put up with it.





	stupid valentines

**Author's Note:**

> for the anon who requested this, i’m really sorry it didn’t turn out so well :( i was really excited to write them but.. i’ve never written them as a pairing before so i didn’t really know how to work with them :(( and i’m sorry its kinda choppy and weird and just Messy overall AH i tried my best i’m sorry i hope you like it anyway!! <3

Hongseok doesn’t understand why Valentine’s Day is such a big deal, why people go to such extreme lengths to celebrate it, why they go crazy trying to treat their significant others, especially when they’re in college. Sure, in high school, you’re young and supposedly in love for the first time, finally having someone to be your Valentine after years of being one of those losers who sends anonymous gifts to themselves and pretends to be surprised when they get it. (Hongseok’s never done that. Definitely not. Okay, maybe once. Or twice. But no one needs to know that.) And once you’re older, working, not only do you have someone who’s more likely to be a permanent fix, but you actually have the money to spend on them.

But in college… You’re broke and your heart gets broken too, so what’s the point?

Valentine’s Day is stupid, but he’s getting paid good money to deliver these silly gifts to people around campus, so for the sake of eating something other than ramen for once, he figures he’ll put up with it.

He’s got these little gifts piled up in the basket of the bicycle that they’re letting him use, all tagged with the names of the people he’s supposed to send them to, and a list of where they’ll be at what time. All he has to do is go give it to them.

Except someone walks straight into his bicycle and-

“Oh my god!”

They both get knocked to the ground, his bike falling over, boxes tumbling out of the basket and Hongseok watches in horror as they get kicked around, stepped on by passersby, quickly scrambling to his feet to gather them before they get any more damaged than they already are.

“I’m so sorry,” he hears from behind him, obviously coming from whoever it is that had crashed into him. “I- I wasn’t looking.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Hongseok mutters under his breath, but the person seems to hear him, guilt pouring out of their voice when they say, “I’m really sorry. Here, I- I’ll help you-”

Hongseok can’t help but roll his eyes, straightening up. “Don’t bo-” The words die on his tongue when he turns to see who he’s speaking to, a sheepish smile flashing on his face as his eyes land on the cute boy, his wrists wringed together shyly, bottom lip chewed between his teeth like a schoolboy getting scolded. Hongseok’s voice turns softer without him meaning to. “I- I mean, no, it’s okay, don’t bother. I can do it myself.”

“But I-”

“No, really, it’s not your fault,” Hongseok tries to say, but the boy insists on helping, offering an apologetic smile before he begins picking up the gift boxes one by one, carefully balancing them in his arms.

Hongseok watches him for a while, and he doesn’t think he’s ever seen him before, but then again, he doesn’t see a lot of people apart from his classmates, his time only spent going to class and locking himself in his room for the rest of the day. But still, the guy must be new, a freshman probably, because Hongseok would’ve definitely remembered him if he ever saw him around campus. He had one of those faces. The pretty kind that you wouldn’t forget even if you only saw it once.

“Okay, here’s the last one- Oh!” The boy reads the name on the present, his eyebrows shooting up. “Kang Hyunggu? That’s me.” He looks at Hongseok, head tilting in confusion. “Is this for me?”

“I don’t know,” Hongseok says, taking the boxes from him to arrange them in his basket again, shoulders lifting. “I guess so. I’m just the delivery boy.”

Hyunggu looks confused for a moment, glancing back at the gifts, then- “Oh, are these for Valentine’s Day? I didn’t know they did this in college too.”

Hongseok lets out a snort. “It’s dumb, right? But the students’ union does it every year and they make a _lot_ of money from it, so I figured this year I might as well get some of the profit too.” The right side of his mouth lifts in a lopsided smile, holding out a hand. “You must be new here, I’m Hongseok.”

“I’m Hyunggu, but um, you know that already,” he answers, head ducking politely as he shakes Hongseok’s hand. “And yeah, first year.”

Hongseok quirks an eyebrow at the gift with Hyunggu’s name on it, still held in the boy’s hands. “First year and you’re already getting secret Valentines?” He narrows his eyes, a teasing tone in his low hum. “Are you sure you’re not just lying about your name so you can get a free gift?”

Hyunggu gasps, almost offended, but there’s amusement in his eyes, lighting them up. “Are you calling me a Valentine’s thief?”

“Well…” Hongseok pretends to look him over carefully before he breaks out into a chuckle, deciding, “No, I believe you. A cute guy like you would definitely get a Valentine’s gift.”

“Oh?”

Hongseok bites his tongue when a slow grin spreads on Hyunggu’s face, only then realising that he’d just called a complete stranger cute, and he feels his face burn in shame.

“No, uh, what I meant was- I mean, not that you’re not cute but I- I wasn’t trying to-”

“Uh-huh, okay, whatever you say,” Hyunggu chimes, still grinning wide, nodding slowly as he backs away. He waves the box at Hongseok. “Thanks for the gift.”

He only manages a pathetic, “You’re welcome,” and as soon as Hyunggu is out of sight, he smacks himself. _Idiot._ This is why he never had any Valentines.

—

It turns out that Hyunggu wasn’t lying about his name, because when Hongseok heads out for his second round of deliveries the next day, there’s another box with Hyunggu’s name on it and the guy is exactly where the list says he should be, sat at table number 43 on the ground floor of the library, on the blue seat by the wind- _Who the hell even comes up with these lists?_

“Told you I wasn’t a Valentine’s thief,” Hyunggu says when Hongseok hands him the gift, looking rather smug.

“I guess you’re just popular,” Hongseok shoots back, genuinely in awe of how he’s gotten not one, but _two_ gifts for someone who’s so new to the place.

Hyunggu laughs at that, his hands shaking to deny it. “Not at all, please. I’m sure you’ve gotten just as many, if not more.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, like you said,” Hyunggu leans forward, chin in his palm, looking up at him through his eyelashes. “Cute guys definitely get Valentine’s gifts.”

Hongseok feels the corner of his mouth twitch. “Are you calling me cute?”

Hyunggu gives him a small lift of his shoulders, a hint of a smile dancing on his lips, and instead of answering him, he says, “Don’t you have more gifts to deliver?”

And _right,_ he does. He’ll run off schedule if he sticks around here flirting-but-not-flirting with Hyunggu, so he heaves an exaggerated sigh, trying his best to hide his own smile when Hyunggu waves goodbye. He’s not very good at hiding things.

—

Hyunggu may not have lied about his name, but he must’ve been lying when he said he wasn’t popular, because Hongseok sees him at least two more times after that, and he thinks it’s the first time anyone’s gotten more than three gifts in a single year.

And just when he thought he couldn’t possibly see Hyunggu again, the guy proves him wrong.

Hongseok’s going through yet another list of deliveries, whistling to himself as he waltzes into a lecture hall and-

“Oh shit.” He freezes when the professor turns to him, the students eyeing him too and his face flushes, gulping thickly. “Um, sorry, sir, I’m just here to deliver some Valentine’s gifts-”

“I’m in the middle of a class-”

“It’ll just take me a minute, please,” Hongseok is quick to say, already pulling out a box from his bag and- “Oh! Would you look at that? There’s even one for you.”

The old man’s eyebrows raise, glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. “For me?”

Hongseok nods, giving him a quick wink before he tosses the box at him, barely holding back a laugh when the man begins to blush. He goes through the list as fast as he can, calling out names, running all over the hall to pass the gifts along to their recipients.

“Adachi Yuto… Jung Wooseok… Kang-”

A smile pulls at Hongseok’s lips before he can help it, heading over to where Hyunggu’s sat, holding out the present for him.

“You know, I’m beginning to think that you’re just sending these gifts to yourself,” he teases, and it makes Hyunggu laugh, the sound of it twinkling softly.

His hand latches onto the gift, fingertips brushing over Hongseok’s. “Would that be so bad?” he counters, tugging on the box to pull Hongseok in closer. “Maybe I’m just doing it to see the cute delivery guy.”

Hongseok feels his stomach flip, and before he embarrasses himself, he coughs out, “Well, too bad you’re stuck with seeing me.”

Hyunggu’s eyes roll back playfully, but he says thank you when Hongseok lets go of the gift, smiling up at him. Before he leaves, he catches Hongseok’s hand in his, pulling him back to ask, “Was that gift really for my professor?”

Hongseok rolls his lips in to bite down his laugh, head shaking, and he drops his voice to answer, “No, I just ripped someone else’s name tag off of it.”

That makes Hyunggu laugh again, loud and full of life, and Hongseok thinks that maybe he likes his laugh. He likes it a lot.

—

Hongseok is convinced that Hyunggu must be trying to break some kind of record. Either that, or he really is well-liked by a ton of people here. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter.

He finds Hyunggu in the cafeteria this time, and he’s pretty sure that from delivering Hyunggu’s gifts alone, he’s covered at least half of their campus.

“Another one for you, Mister I’m-Not-Popular-At-All,” Hongseok announces, giving him a dramatic bow before he gives him the box, and as if playing along, Hyunggu jumps up with an equally as dramatic gasp, his hands flying to his cheeks.

“For me?” Hyunggu takes the gift from him, an excited squeal bubbling up his throat.

Hongseok almost finds it amusing, about to laugh, but then the people around them begin to cheer and his eyes go wide. “Wait, no- I’m not- I wasn’t-”

He hears _‘aww’s’_ and _‘ooh’s’_ and he turns red, head shaking hard. “No, no, I’m just the delivery guy,” he tries to say, but no one’s listening to him, and Hyunggu’s got a cheeky grin plastered to his face.

He blushes even harder when Hyunggu suddenly throws his arms around him in a hug, his lips ghosting over his ear to whisper, “Just go with it.”

So he does, hugging Hyunggu back, his voice low when he mumbles, “You really are something else, Kang Hyunggu.”

Hyunggu just laughs, squeezing him tighter before he lets go, and he says, “Till next time.”

“Till next time,” Hongseok says back, both of them knowing that there’ll definitely be one.

—

And there is, except this time, Hongseok has no gifts for Hyunggu. He has no gifts at all.

“No deliveries today?” Hyunggu asks, walking up to where Hongseok’s kicking around some rocks by the pond.

Hongseok gives him a shake of his head, shoulders slumped. “I got cut,” he grumbles, silently cursing the stupid students’ union and their all-seeing eye. “Apparently I messed up a lot of the deliveries and I have no idea how, but they found out that I gave someone’s gift to that professor.” He pauses, looking up. “You didn’t rat me out, did you?”

“I don’t even know where the students’ union is,” Hyunggu answers, and Hongseok believes him.

“They wouldn’t even pay me for the deliveries that I already did so now I’ve got nothing,” Hongseok sighs, misery in his tone.

Hyunggu offers a small smile, patting his shoulder in sympathy. “That’s a shame,” he says. “I was just about to ask you to help deliver a gift for me.”

If Hongseok wasn’t upset before, he definitely is now. He feels his stomach drop when Hyunggu holds out a gift bag, the thing decorated nicely in soft hues of purples and pinks. And of course Hyunggu would have a Valentine. Of course. He’d gotten so many gifts, it shouldn’t be a surprise that at least one of them would be from someone that he liked back. Or knowing him, it could be someone completely different. Hongseok wouldn’t put it past him to have a line of people waiting to be his Valentine.

And of course Hongseok had read it all wrong, all the flirting-but-not-flirting with Hyunggu really was nothing at all. He must’ve just been looking too much into it, letting himself get too distracted. And now, Hongseok is as broke as he was before and his heart is a little bit broken too.

Valentine’s Day fucking sucks.

Hongseok clears his throat, taking the bag from Hyunggu. “No, it’s fine. I can  deliver this for you. It’s no problem.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he says, nodding, putting on a bright smile, but as soon as he turns to walk away, it falls from his face, his chest feeling hollow.

Hongseok takes a look at the tag to see who he’s supposed to deliver this to, and huh, this Yang Hongseok person is a lucky one- _Wait._

He turns back, eyebrows knitted together. “Yang Hongseok? That’s me.” He frowns at Hyunggu. “Is this for me?”

“I don’t know,” Hyunggu says back, taking slow steps towards him, a smile growing on his face. “I guess so. You’re the delivery boy, not me.”

Hongseok can’t help but grin at the familiar words, tilting his head down to look at Hyunggu once he’s standing right in front of him. “The cute delivery boy?”

“The cutest there is,” Hyunggu answers, hands coming up to lock behind his neck, tugging him closer, and maybe Hongseok hadn’t read it wrong after all.

Hongseok’s arms slide around his waist, a thoughtful hum in the back of his throat. “Does that mean you really got all those gifts for yourself just so you could see me?”

Hyunggu throws his head back in laughter, saying, “No, I didn’t, actually. Those gifts really were from secret Valentines. Getting to see you was just a bonus.”

“So I’ve got competition then?” Hongseok asks with an arched eyebrow, and Hyunggu gives him a shrug of his shoulders, saying, “You’re the only one I gave a gift to, if that’s what you’re asking.”

A pleased smile settles on Hongseok’s lips, and he tightens his hold on Hyunggu, leaning down so that their noses bump against each other’s. “You know, I’ve never had a Valentine before.”

Hyunggu grins up at him, reaching up to place a kiss to his cheek and he says, “Well, you do now.”

And okay, maybe Valentine’s Day isn’t so stupid after all.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are very much appreciated! ♡
> 
> find me on:  
> ➳ [twitter](https://twitter.com/ao3kino)  
> ➳ [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/ao3kino)  
> ➳ [listography](https://listography.com/forkinos)


End file.
